The law of “love peace and libertie … which is the glory of the Outward State of Holland,” they reminded him, extends even “to Jewes Turkes and Egiptians.” Therefore, they respectfully refused to obey. The so-called Flushing Remonstrance is considered one of the foundational documents of American liberty, ancestor to the first amendment in the Bill of Rights, which guarantees that the government “shall make no laws respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
